


What He Did In the Shadows

by asrewrites



Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Dark Character, Escape, Gen, Morally Ambiguous Character, bad intentions, nothing to do with how we know this character to be, questioable personal interactions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-12
Updated: 2020-11-12
Packaged: 2021-03-10 02:20:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,945
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27526762
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/asrewrites/pseuds/asrewrites
Summary: I wrote this a while ago for a DarkSide Challenge when I was on another site. Here we find Bucky post HYDRA circa 1989. He's got no moral compass and isn't looking for any. He's a vigilant, stalker and doing things without implicit consent - but only because someone started it.
Kudos: 1





	What He Did In the Shadows

Leaving HYDRA had been easy enough. People got lax, there were more super soldiers running around and, well, everything went missing from time to time. The Asset had simply walked away after a mission went sideways. Berlin during the fall of the wall was chaotic and the Asset had been sent to do, well something. It was fuzzy and unclear. Instead, he had ended up floating face down in three feet of water in a dark basement after being electrocuted by faulty wiring that the flooding had reached. Maybe HYDRA had left him for dead, or abandoned him hoping to get him back later. Bucky wasn’t sure and didn't care. He had a little bit of himself back when he woke up and had then spent a few years on the run, catching up on the things that had passed him by.

He didn't need to fight anymore, and rarely needed to kill, but he still did both. Mostly for defence, people attacked him, recognized him or threatened him and he needed to stay safe. The odd kill here or there was warranted to stay free, he didn't need it to stay sharp or feel as if his skills were intact. He knew he could go into murder for hire, killers were always needed and he had the talent for it if not the taste. The lack of taste for it would probably keep him working longer and with fewer fuck ups than the competition, and Bucky toyed with the idea when he was down and out here and there, but he stayed away from it because even HYDRA contracted out that kind of work, and the last thing he wanted was to get caught while taking a job to stay free. Fighting was easier and there was always someone stupid enough to take him on.

For a while, Bucky ran with the underground fighting circuits in various cities. Getting in was easy enough, you fought your way in. He always downplayed his arm, making it seem like it was some flashy but useless prosthetic. Once he was in, rising to the higher purse matches was easy, even without using his metal arm. Over time he got bored with it though. Everyone was there to make money for someone or something, and there was no sport in the higher levels. People were owned and fights were fixed. After that street fighting became his new fix. There was never any shortage of drunks, junkies or generally pissed off people (or some combination of all of that) to keep his skills sharp. He learned a few moves and always left them breathing. 

Eventually, he’d managed to find Peggy Carter; though actually getting to her had been harder than he thought. He’d finally had himself mailed to her in a modified deep freezer. She had thankfully still been home and opened the box. After a seven-hour standoff, she had finally agreed to help him. That day Bucky Barnes started to exist again, on the service porch of her home in 1995. She had started getting him up to speed with all that he’d missed over the years. At first, it was with stories of Steve and the Howlies. Bucky swore that he could actually remember being there for some of the stories as she talked. By the time she had gotten him talking to her, he knew that Steve had died shortly after Bucky had been presumed dead in the fourties. His best friend had tried to take down HYDRA without him and crashed a big ass bomb plane into the Arctic for his troubles. It was somehow fitting and unsettling, both of them falling into the snow to die.

Peggy had wanted him to join SHIELD, but Bucky didn't want to join anything. He thought it was better to stay under the radar. He also didn't much want to run into Howard Stark. The guy was nice enough but he was also a know it all pain in the ass and he would want to experiment on Bucky. Peggy had asked for one thing only, a blood sample and that was easy enough to give. Bucky was certain in his bones that Howard would want that and so much more, and Bucky wasn’t willing to give up his freedom to be someone else’s lab rat. HYDRA wasn’t dead and gone and he wasn’t free of the possibility of them catching and using him again. Peggy had agreed to get him a handler, someone to take messages between them; to give intel, help with assignments and keep Bucky updated, outfitted and supplied. He had gone through a few handlers before his current one. She had stuck, whether he liked it or not.

For the most part, Bucky could do whatever he wanted. He had a convenient cover that let him people watch, absorb technology and figure out how to get along in the current world. In between shelving books at a small campus library, and cleaning the halls in some of the campus buildings, Bucky could do as he pleased. At first, he’d read and watched movies. The library had an extensive collection of books and movies on VHS. Bucky happily used those things to take up his time when he wasn’t working.

After a few months, he was getting restless. He found himself following patrons out of the library and around campus; then around town at all hours. He convinced himself it was to hone his skills. After all, most of the surveillance he used and relied on during his HYDRA days was done by others. He went in with the information and weaponry to kill the target or targets and get out. He was too valuable and volatile to have sitting around for weeks watching comings and goings. Now he had a chance to work those skills, so he did. At first, he followed random people at random times. Not enough to call it stalking, but enough that he started to learn the campus and surrounding area. He found a few interesting shops and restaurants that way. Slowly his surveillance targets narrowed down.

Bucky started following women, especially ones who lived alone. It was easy enough for him to figure out their living arrangements. He would follow them home and watch them at night, all night. He told himself that night was best because he was less visible, and people were much less likely to talk to him or notice his metal arm. He often found himself on fire escapes and on roofs watching. He never got too close. He didn't want to see these women living their lives; he just wanted to make sure that they got from A to B in one piece. Sometimes he thought he was doing it in memory of his sister, other times he wondered how long before he turned into the guy peeping in the window instead of the one watching the windows to make sure nothing looked off. 

Whatever one might call what Bucky was doing, it was necessary. He thought so after he followed the little blonde home again after a long night of studying. She lived off-campus in a not great part of town. Bucky had seen this other guy tailing her, and he too had followed her out of the library that night. Bucky wasn’t too subtle about keeping up with them as he followed along on the trip back to the girl’s apartment. The man kept looking in his direction and Bucky knew he was being careless, but he had a bad feeling about the guy. That bad feeling escalated when the guy, now officially called moron in Bucky’s mind; decided to investigate the thing creeping up on him in the dark.

Bucky wasn’t ready for moron to have a knife, he thought at first he was just dodging punches. He adjusted for that error fairly quickly as the blade scraped across his metal arm,. The moron wasn’t counting on that and didn’t seem to notice that the blade hadn’t sunk into anything as he kept dragging it back and forth. Bucky was slightly in front of the man and when the fellow lunged at him. He tried to evade the attack by bringing his arm up and ducking. There was a sickening crack and the man crumpled.

Bucky went down with him and sat there for a bit before he flipped the guy over and looked. He must have caught him just the right way, the man’s face was crumpled in at an odd angle and that killed him. Bucky scrubbed his hand over his face and then picked the moron up and dumped him in the nearest trash bin; after taking the guy’s wallet, keys and anything else deemed useful. He’d recently spent some time with Natasha Romanova, who’d been talking non-stop about Nick Fury and all his stashes. He had cash, id, weapons and all kinds of stuff all over; just in case something went wrong and he had to go on the run. That appealed to Bucky, the idea that he could get away without help, without needing to involve anyone else.

Bucky checked the moron’s keys but there was nothing for a car. He would go and take everything that he could sell from the moron’s house though. After all, he had the guy’s address and keys. As long as he did it quickly and quietly no one would notice until it was too late. He’d make certain there was no one at the moron’s place first though. He wasn’t going to kill anyone else for some easy untraceable cash. Well at least no one who hadn’t attacked him first.

A few weeks after that incident Bucky found himself beating the shit out of some thugs that tried to rob him in an alley as he was watching a group of co-eds head home from a frat party. He got 3 cars, 2 guns and 400 dollars out of that. Added to the money he had gotten from selling moron’s identity and Bucky had a nice little bankroll to go with his weapons. A few weeks after that he found a lovely empty warehouse that was just down the way from his new chop shop buddies. The warehouse owners were glad to let him use the place free of charge, in exchange for Bucky fixing it up and keeping it from catching squatters or on fire. Bucky planned to use it to stash any cars he might ‘find’. He kept some money and weapons there too, just in case.

He was happily living out of that place when he’d started following the last girl he’d secretly assisted. Bucky had first noticed the dark-haired beauty laughing by the checkout desk. From what he saw, plenty of people had noticed her. He watched her for days, and so did a few others he observed. A couple got bored and stopped coming around, but one guy was persistent. Bucky wasn’t sure that he was going to keep following her, she was pretty but the jackass that was following her seemed harmless enough. He wasn’t stealthy and she easily lost him on more than one occasion. Bucky had followed her a few times and already knew where she lived, so he just went on over to the rooftop next door and settled in for the night. If the dufus following her was going to try something Bucky was fairly certain he would wait until she was closer to home. A guy like that was all about ease of opportunity and wouldn’t want to take her somewhere too open. He’d most likely try to get into her apartment behind her. Maybe with a charge, maybe with a ‘hey neighbour’.

Bucky didn’t think much of it when she arrived home alone. Maybe the dufus had wandered off, distracted by someone else. Dufus’s wandering eyes had caused him to lose track of her already that night. Bucky was about 3 hours into watching her darkened windows and thinking about going elsewhere when he saw the shape on the fire escape. It came from the roof, and it lacked grace or stealth. Within seconds Bucky was certain it was the dufus from earlier. It was possible that guy lived in her building, if so she was probably even less safe than she thought. He watched as the shape made its way to her window, it stood there for a bit before Bucky heard the quiet moan accompanied by the distinct sounds of a man jerking off.

With a sigh, Bucky made his way over to the dufus. He was harmless now, but his behaviour would probably escalate and Bucky knew that he couldn’t always be around to make sure that guys like him were caught in time. He was standing right beside the guy before he spoke. Dufus didn’t notice Bucky‘s arrival at all and jumped about a foot and spun towards Bucky with a screech. Bucky just shook his head and put a finger to his own lips, signalling for the man to be quiet. The guy, being a real idiot though, took one look at Bucky and decided that the hand that wasn’t holding his dick should fly at Bucky’s face. That hand met with Bucky’s metal shoulder as Bucky stepped into the hit. Bucky heard several of the dufus’s finger bones crack against the unyielding vibranium as dufus’s fist continued forward, even as Bucky grabbed the guy’s other hand and squeezed. 

Bucky supposed dufus would have squealed with pain, but instead, he passed out. Two broken hands, dick out and relieved of all his valuables - watch, wallet, sneakers and jacket. Bucky tossed the dufus into a waiting dumpster and went on his way. The building and the girl they had both been following, apparently none the wiser. After he’d checked for the guy’s car and decided to skip raiding dufus’s apartment, Bucky headed back to the warehouse. He made a short call to the cops on his way, from a payphone that was nowhere near where the dufus was, or any kind of surveillance. Dufus wasn’t getting out of that dumpster with two fucked up hands and Bucky didn't need anyone on the lookout for a vigilante.

Before calling it a night he took a stroll through an area known to have some nasty people in it and acquired another handgun, a fist full of gold chains, a briefcase with questionable but resellable contents and keys to the new Lexus he then drove to the warehouse. Bucky knew he kind of really enjoyed taking on the occasional street thug. It kept him fresh. They called themselves gangsters but Bucky was pretty sure that they weren’t even close to that. He had known a few gangsters in his day, before the army, and in it. Either way, the fellas and even the ladies that tried to fight him didn't stand a chance. It was like training, only better. In the kind of training SHIELD did, no real weapons were used. Bucky would do those sessions only when he had to, they didn't keep him as sharp as the tussles he got into on the streets. Real people using whatever they had to take you down; that was a challenge. 

Of course, now he was thinking of SHIELD. He’d ignored a few check-ins and knew at some point someone was going to come looking for him. He had made promises to stay a freer man than before and to get help with a new life and identity. With everyone he’d ever known pretty much gone now, even Peggy was old and her memory was spotty; Bucky had little desire to get attached or to really care about anyone or anything. Steve, for all his crazy need to prove himself and fight for the right thing, was gone. It wasn’t that Bucky lacked a moral compass, it’s just that he didn't care so much. No one was looking up to him, no one that mattered was asking him to be a better man. All anyone seemed to want was a man who could follow orders, and it really didn't matter how things got done or how he kept himself in working order. At least it hadn’t so far. 

Bucky had a theory that as long as he never outright killed someone, either murder for hire or in front of witnesses in cold blood, then he was forgiven anything. He hadn’t really tested it out, there wasn’t a need to as most of his missions were covering a team not leading it. He rarely did anything by himself and he had yet to be assigned any wet work. The only times killing had come up recently had been that poor schmuck that got his head smashed in on Bucky’s arm. And that had been an unfortunate accident, Most of the people he had rolled for their rides and goods were busted up; but he had checked to make sure they were all alive when he left. As far as he knew he hadn’t personally killed any of them and that was all he needed to know.

His mind was flicking through ideas as he pulled in to park the Lexus by the three other cars he had in the building. He wasn’t going to keep all of them. That was impractical. At most two could be used for an effective getaway, especially with maintenance and plates that wouldn’t get tagged as stolen right away. He liked the Lexus but it was too flashy so it was going to go down to the choppers as soon as Bucky felt that no one would be looking for it. Until then, it would stay with the Corolla, Mustang and Civic. Not every car had to be top of the line, anything that worked was fair game for him.

He put the car in park, turned it off and gathered his goodies from the seat beside him before stepping out of the car. He used his foot to close the door and went off to secure the items in different locations. The idea was that anyone just casually looking around the building shouldn't find anything, anyone putting on a serious search might find a few things, but no one but him could find everything. He had sensed that someone else was around before he got back to the main floor, so he wasn’t too surprised to see her sitting on the hood of the Mustang.

She had probably come because he’d been ducking SHIELD’s calls. She was his handler, after all, it was her job. She always wore a black skin-tight catsuit, and sometimes he imagined fucking her where ever they might be. Bucky was pretty sure it was the way those catsuits clung to her, giving away every curve of her body. He’d never asked if they were just for him, it seemed too forward and much too risqué to say to his boss. He got the feeling that she liked it that way; knowing he noticed but didn't say or do anything. It was a game, but tonight he didn't want to play.

“I’ve been hearing things Sarge,” came her smoky voice as she watched him get closer. No one called him Sergeant anymore and her tone was pouty at best. She was usually sarcastic but that unhappy tone seemed to be her conversation style of choice these days. Bucky wasn’t finding it in himself to accept that tone currently.

“So?” he bit out as he stopped short of the car. She tilted her head and looked at him before raising an eyebrow.

“You’re a car thief, low-level drug lord and sometimes bodyguard to the unaware. Not really what you’re here for Sarge,” she drawled as her eyes crawled over him. He thought it might bother him to be found out, but as she spoke Bucky realized that it didn't matter to him at all. SHIELD wanted to use him as HYDRA had before, they were just being ‘nicer’ about it. 

“You here to arrest me?”

“It’s been talked about, but that little intervention you did in that gay bar. Well, there were a few important people there; or relatives of important people. They’re advocating to keep you free. So having you on a shorter leash is in everyone's best interest.” She arched towards him as she spoke, pushing her breasts hard against the thin material of her catsuit and Bucky licked his lips. He idly wondered if there was more to worry about than just her before the first shot rang out.

Bucky hit the ground as the first rounds zinged off the car, he saw her roll off the hood and fall to the floor beside the Mustang. Bucky was pissed. Who the hell was shooting up his nest egg? He looked in the direction of the shots and saw a small group of people on a catwalk. For whatever reason they were all training their fire on her and not him, so he took the opportunity to slither away to a stash he had close by, shoved into a small fake electrical junction he’d built close to the floor along the wall. He grabbed at the cover and tore it free before grabbing a small set of knives and a handgun he had stashed. He’d barely checked the gun when he heard someone coming his way.

Bucky turned over and loosed a knife at the oncoming target’s neck. It hit home and the body fell to reveal a now screaming second attacker who fired wildly in Bucky’s direction before dropping to the ground by their buddy. Whoever these people were, they had those little machine guns that were so popular these days, and they didn't seem at all worried about attracting attention. The spray of bullets had mostly gone wide and aside from a stinging on his shin, Bucky was untouched. He didn’t know how many other people there might be around and he didn't want to give his position away so before the second person could fire again Bucky loosed another blade and took them out.

He looked over the area as best he could before sitting up and putting his back flush to the wall. From where he was he could see that there were still people on the catwalk and that his handler was still hiding along the side of the Mustang. He couldn't see her but he could see her shadow moving from where he was. Anyone down on the floor with him could have seen it. He had chosen the place because it was a wide-open design, not a lot of sneaking up to be done. He didn't know who the people were but they had to have come in from the chained door on the side of the building. Bucky kicked himself for not doing a perimeter check when he drove up, that door was visible on the way in.

Bucky pushed himself to his feet and worked his way along the wall towards the downed assailants. They didn’t move but he was still cautious, staying as close to the wall as possible to keep out of sight of the catwalk above him. He was suddenly happy that the walk only spanned one side of the building. If it connected across even one of the other walls there would be no place to hide. Bucky didn't recall even thinking of that when he had looked at the place, at least not consciously. Old habits died hard though, and he supposed it was one that he didn't mind keeping intact at least until h was physically unable to fight people off himself. 

He went over the dead people for id and weapons. Picking up more of either wasn’t a bad idea, especially since he was increasingly more certain that she was unarmed and that, aside from the bullets, was why she hadn’t moved from the side of the car. SHIELD might let him disappear since he wasn’t officially theirs to begin with but there was no way in hell that she’d go missing and no one would come looking. Bucky wasn’t interested in that happening to him. People could look at that however they wanted and he didn't give a damn. He worked with them, not for them and he’d be damned if he was going to let anything happen that would allow them to steamroll over his life. He was in charge of himself now and it was going to stay that way as long as he had the ability to choose.

He pulled the coat and hat off the bigger body, shrugged them on as he cleaned his reclaimed knives on the other before he pried one of the uzis from one of the dead and made his way in a low crouch to the car nearest him. With a bit of luck, the people on the catwalk would think he was one of the people he’d taken out. If they figured it out he hoped at least he got a weapon closer to her before all hell broke loose.

As luck would have it the disguise worked and Bucky made his way from the wall to the Lexus and past it without incident. He was internally patting himself on the back when he found himself grappling with someone who jumped on him as he rounded the side of the Mustang to find his handler. After a hectic few seconds that ended in a standoff with him holding a knife to her throat and her holding a knife to his groin; Bucky realized that his disguise had fooled even his handler. He chuckled a bit and she elbowed him hard in the ribs as they broke apart. Bucky followed her lead to get his back up against the side of the Mustang.

“The fuck Barnes?” she hissed throwing a glare at him. 

“Didn’t know if you had a weapon. Was bringing you one,” he grunted as he tossed her a gun. She already had a knife, though where she kept it in that skin-tight outfit was something he was both curious and almost afraid to find out.

He eyed her as she huffed, noticing that she was favouring her right side, then he caught the gash in her thigh. She’d been caught by a bullet. I didn't look deep but he couldn't get a clear look at it as she rolled in front of him, grabbed his shoulders and slammed his head against the car when she jerked him backwards. “Who the fuck are these people Barnes? What the fuck is wrong with you?”

He chuckled as she growled out the words, her eyes ablaze. “Fuck if I know sweetheart. They’re shooting at you, not me.”

She flinched and her eyes shot to her thigh as he pushed forward and pulled her hands off of him. She sat back and looked confused, it would have been cute if the remaining people hadn’t been loudly moving in their direction. Bucky shoved her to the floor and rolled to his side to look under the car. He could see one set of feet clearly and he loosed a blade, catching the person nicely in the ankle. That one fell to the floor with a scream, then she started firing and managed to shoot the other person that Bucky couldn’t see from under the car. He wasn’t about to give the all-clear yet, who knew how many there really were, but that didn’t seem to be on her mind.

He heard the screech as she jumped on the opponent on the floor, the one with Bucky’s blade in their ankle. She began to pummel the person mercilessly. She managed to grunt out questions while she raged on the poor soul that had the bad sense not to be dead; and Bucky took her distraction as an opportunity to quickly scan the area for more intruders. If she wanted to get shot, who was he to stop her?

He didn't see anyone in the area, so he worked his way back to the far wall and the first bodies of the evening. He checked the small office area and then climbed to the catwalk and secured the door from the inside. He figured if anyone was outside, they now had to find a new way in that didn't alert him; and that was no small feat. Bucky had the place done up real good, anyone not knowing the traps would make enough noise to alert him without it being too loud. Bucky didn't need all creation knowing his business, but he didn't need cockroaches either. And that’s how he saw these attackers, anyone really who would come into his space uninvited. They were just vermin that needed to be eliminated. 

He had shown his handler one way in and knew that, even if she was making a surprise visit like this, she would only have used that one way in. People could be very predictable and Bucky understood that for the most part his handler liked him and she also thought that he was a bit unstable. Just cracked enough that you’d want to play along with small things like only coming into a place in one way. No need getting him worked up, he might go off the deep end and hurt someone. People had a general idea of who he was and what he had done, although most didn't know about his trigger words and had never seen him as the fist of HYDRA. Bucky doubted that even Peggy knew that he was the infamous winter soldier when he’d appeared. She might know it now, but nothing said or done so far led him to believe that she did or that it mattered.

With the doors and perimeter secure, Bucky returned to the floor to find her still beating on the poor defenceless and senseless attacker. He had hoped that she had stopped while he was gone, but obviously, she was too worked up to think straight. He tried reasoning with her for a second, even putting a light hand on her shoulder to let her know that he was there. All that had done was taken her focus from the attacker to him and suddenly Bucky was fighting her again, trying to get her to recognize him before she actually managed to stick him with the knife she was wielding. Unfortunately, every blow he deflected only seemed to make her more intent on getting to him and he began to get tired of trying to talk some sense into her. Without really thinking about it he used his metal arm to grab her by the throat and lift her off her feet. He wouldn't have to squeeze much to subdue her, gravity and her body weight would help cut off her blood flow and oxygen. He watched her claw at his had and kick into the air. It barely registered that her struggles had become feeble as he licked his lips and raked his eyes over her body as it strained deliciously against the thin fabric of that catsuit.

His eyes finally make their way to her face and he noticed the blue tinge to her lips. He lowered her to the floor, careful to lessen his grip but not drop her as she might not be able to stand on her own. She’d started coughing as soon as his grip loosened and as her feet met the floor she grabbed at his fingers, trying to pry his hand off. He released her and she stumbled back and barked out a cough and clutched at her throat. She stood shakily and backed away from him, shaking her head and spluttering.

“Keep it down, we don’t know that we’re alone,” Bucky grumbled at her. 

“Fuck you Barnes,” she spat and stepped toward him, “You fucking tried to murder me!”

“I didn't try nuthin’. You’d gone off the deep end beating that fucker and wouldn’t stop. If you couldn't see sense then I had to find another way to stop ya. Squeezin’ ya out seemed easiest.”

She stood there and stared at him. At first with her mouth hanging open and then with it closed, lips drawn into a tight line. He saw her eyes narrow and caught the movement in her as she sprang forward to claw at his face. She screamed, just a solid syllable pierced the air as she grabbed at him. She went for the eyes, the throat, tried to bite him when he grabbed her hands away. She kicked his shins and tried to knee him in the nuts, but Bucky deflected most of it. She could get mad but she had no reason to blind him or try to take him down. Bucky briefly wondered how he hadn’t noticed that she was just this side of out of control in all the times that they had met. As he thought he stepped into her space, forcing her backwards until she was trapped between him and the Mustang.

“Let me go Barnes!” she growled and tried to force herself sideways to use her hips as leverage between them. Bucky just leaned forward, using his weight to stop her from moving. She started to scream again so he put his metal hand over her mouth; she could try biting it but he didn’t think that would go very well. She struggled against him, against his hand, making noises and locking her eyes on his. The staring contest that erupted was punctuated by her grinding against him. Bucky smirked at that. If she thought getting him hard would solve her problems here, she was only making things worse for herself.

Bucky hadn’t been the kind of guy to spend a lot of time with women since he’d come back. He did some catch as catch can with a few people here and there. He’d let them do what they wanted just to see what he might feel from it. He took precautions but wasn’t picky. Guys and girls could suck a dick well, and he wasn’t looking for attachments that could be used against him by anyone at any time. He mainly steered clear of anyone who looked like they would want another go or a series of them. Random head from random people who were drunk off their asses was what he indulged in every now and then. He didn’t have a lot of attraction to people these days. Too many years of captivity had turned the world into various levels of threat for him and he saw no reason to change that; especially whenever he bothered to read the paper or caught the newscast. People were still disgusting.

But here and now Bucky was getting flashes of what it was like to want someone. It was probably from too many nights and days spent wondering if she looked as good without that catsuit as she did with it, yet he couldn’t keep himself from feeling the reactions. He was a little giddy with it if he was honest. It had been so long since anyone had brought out anything like this in him, he had feared that that part of him was gone forever; taken like his arm and his future had been. He pondered all this with that same smirk pointed at her. For her part the smirk seemed to spur her to further try to break free by grinding against him.

After a bit, she had succeeded in getting him truly hard, and continued to grind on him; even going as far as to wiggle a hand between them to up the ante. She didn’t seem put off by the fact that so far all her ministrations had done was get Bucky to press harder against her, he had let his breathing rise a bit but otherwise had shown very little reaction to her ploy. He felt her lick at his metal palm and he took that as an invitation to move his flesh hand from the hood of the car to her. Bucky followed her lead, moving his hand down her body until it was firmly between her legs. He chuckled when her eyes widened and she made a little surprised sound against his metal hand. She started shaking her head from side to side and Bucky leaned in to speak to her.

“Wass the matter doll? You get to play but I don’t?” he drawled and watched her eyes narrow again. She tightened her grip around him, hampered by his clothes she couldn’t really hurt him if that’s what she was trying to do.

“I don’t think that’s a wise idea there sweetheart. Hurt me and I hurt you worse, cuz I’m bigger.”

She nodded against his hand as she loosened her grip on his pants. She huffed out a breath as he let his fingers explore the zipper he was realizing went all the way down the front of the suit and far between her legs. She shifted her thighs, trying to stop his exploration and he nodded to her, letting her know he knew she wanted him to stop, but not stopping. He pressed a digit to the fine teeth of the zipper and followed it slowly back to where it ended, deep between her thighs. Her body trembled ever so slightly and Bucky could feel the warmth and dampness there as he explored. 

“It’s a two-way zipper huh?” he mused as his fingers caught the tab of the end under her and pulled slightly. Panic sparked in her eyes and Bucky shook his head as he pulled the tab back to its starting position. “Don’t worry sweetheart, I’m not that bad a man these days.”

Bucky knew that her heart was racing and that she was poised to attack. He was certain if he let her go she would have a knife at this throat or crotch in a second if she didn’t just go for the gun he had handed her earlier. He wanted to know what was going on, why were there dead bodies in his warehouse and was it a coincidence that these attackers had shown up here when he was here or had she set this in motion. If it was a setup, was it just a matter of needing backup or was there something else to it? Was he in danger because of this, or just caught in the crossfire? He stared her down as he decided how to approach this conversation. A moment later he muttered, “Who’s chasing you doll? What’s going on here?”

She just stared at him, her expression staying flat. Bucky knew her well enough to know that this was the precursor to her lying. She always lied by degrees. If her eyes shifted it was a small lie, a detail left out here or there. If she blinked once or twice she was thinking on her feet, making something up to go along with the situation. She had a way of reading a moment and spinning a tale to get people to work with her. Bucky admired that because she could do it so quickly and smoothly. As far as he could tell she never worked with the same people twice so no one had learned her tells, but he had been on several missions with her. As the muscle in the scenario, he usually had nothing to do but watch and think. It hadn’t taken long to learn her behaviours. The worst one was the long flat stare. It meant that she was going to just flat out lie; no finesse, no slight omission or story that had enough truth to be plausible. This was burn the plantation, scorched earth, you ain’t getting nothing outta me bald-faced lying.

He felt that he should blink or do something to make her think he was unaware that she was lying. As he was contemplating what to do with her the far wall closest to the two dead bodies from earlier, blew out with a deafening bang. Without thinking about it Bucky collapsed to the ground, taking her with him. He covered her with his body as he scanned the area for approaching enemies. For her part, she was too shocked or pissed to object and let him protect her with his body.

Bucky formed a plan, one that he knew that she wouldn’t like, but after all, she wasn’t telling him who was after her and he wanted nothing more than to know what the hell was going on. People were here and destroying his little slice of the normal world. Rational or not, Bucky was fine with blaming it all on her. Without another thought, Bucky backed up off of her and she turned to sit up. As luck would have it there was a second loud bang, and Bucky used that to his advantage. He pushed her head back into the side of the car, hard enough to knock her out. If she complained about it later he could write it off as an overzealous protective instinct.

Bucky checked her pulse and felt good bout the strength of it. He searched his pockets. He had seen that the attackers were wearing gloves. He already had one of their jackets on, donning the gloves would just help to sell his infiltration. Especially when he presented her. She had scratched him, so he had that working for him too. He found a pair of gloves, they were going to be too small so he tossed them under the car and pulled his own gloves from his back pocket and quickly put them on. He pulled the hood on the coat up over his head and picked her up in a fireman’s carry before he edged closer to the side of the car to see if anyone was in the building yet.

His luck held, so he stood and rushed over to the slightly sheltered area of the floor. He needed it to be plausible that he had been part of the first team so he put her down behind the raised half wall and then went to get one of the bodies that were half-buried by the wall explosion and fall out. He hurried the body away and stashed it away under the false floor he had put in to hide some of his bigger portable devices. Once that was done, and he was certain that he looked suitable dirty for being caught in the blast. He ducked behind the lower wall and waited until he heard people coming into the building. These guys were loud and careless, so he wasn’t too worried about them looking to closely at him.

He waited until he heard them talking. Knowing what language they were using would work better than winging it, especially since he had to blend into the group with as little attention as given as possible. Sure he had their target, but this wasn’t about bartering with them it was about getting in without incident, getting the information and if it still suited him, saving her ass. He hadn’t decided if she was worth the trouble yet. Considering the lengths these people were going to get to her, Bucky was pretty certain that he could convince Peggy he’d done all he could to protect her if it came to covering his ass.

The crew moving around the building stayed in an easily closed up formation. They also talked to each other, out loud and at volume. It seemed that they hadn’t been expecting the explosion and no one had protected their ears. He was fairly certain that the crew was mostly Spanish speaking, he heard Mexican, Columbian, Peruvian and one muddled accent. He focused on that one as he came out, dragging her behind him. It was more effective to his cover not to show off his strength, especially since he could not gauge how strong the dead people had been before their demise. The person with the muddled accent broke out in a huge smile and sent the others to help bring her over. Bucky was in, no questions asked.

The muddled Spanish accent turned to Greek as the leader turned and made a phone call. They were verifying that they had acquired the package and that it could be moved or held. He couldn't hear the other side of the conversation with the movement and talking of the other players, but he tried. He wanted to know what this whole thing was about. It was obviously going to take more time and some patience to get to the bottom of this. 

Bucky watched as the others took her, stripped her and searched her for hidden weapons. At least he had the answer to where she had hidden the knife she sprung on him; and he also knew how she looked outside of that catsuit. Bucky might only have the sight and smell of her to remember her by, but this wasn’t over. He might get some you rescued me sex out of this; depending on how it went between the Greek and the caller Bucky couldn't hear. 

Bucky watched as the Greek took pictures and sent them off, proof of life, proof of capture, proof that she was the one that they wanted at the very least. They all waited after the last picture was sent. Everyone milled about aimlessly, kicking scattered pieces of concrete that had been thrown around with the blasts. As Bucky looked around he saw thousands of dollars of his stash money had been destroyed. The hole in the wall had taken part of a cache of arms and the lovely people who owned this warehouse were going to be really pissed to find out about what had happened here on his watch. All of this was making him very angry. Anger that he was more than willing to point at her. Using that feeling as fuel for his actions, he found that could go along with whatever they might want to do to her.

Bucky slipped out the gash in the wall and counted 3 men watching the vehicles outside. Added to the six inside he was going to have his hands full if he wanted to get all of them subdued. He hadn’t decided that yet, but it was wise to have options. He went back inside and waited with three of the others. Two of them lit up and started smoking some cut cigarettes. They laughed about which one was better, the one with the hash or the one with the weed. Bucky refused a drag, earning a muttered slur from the one and a shrugging, “More for us.” from the other.

The Greek and the other four people went outside and Bucky followed. He needed as much information on what was happening as he could get and the stoners weren’t going to help with that. Outside again Bucky ambled around, kicking tires and moving some debris like the others. He could hear the Greek speaking to the three that were outside before them and he wanted to be able to eavesdrop without looking too obvious. His super soldier hearing would help, and the fact that they were speaking languages he not only knew but could converse in was definitely helpful.

Over the years Bucky had picked up Russian, Dutch, German, French, Portuguese, Spanish, Polish, Ukrainian, Italian, Romanian, Hebrew, Arabic, Greek, Norwegian, Uzbek, Hindi, Swahili and Tagalog. He had a functional understanding and partial use of most others, but those ones he knew by heart. He figured that I might have to do with his assignments or possibly understanding the doctors assigned to him over the years. Bucky had no idea what the reasons were exactly and he didn't care that much, as it afforded him the ability to get along in many different places and situations. It allowed him to be underestimated and aided him in gathering information. Although all he had managed to find out do far was that the cars were stolen and that there was a deadline for payment. Since they had completed their assignment and gotten the goods all that was left was to maintain the cargo in the appropriate condition and deliver it within the window to get paid. It was unclear to all if delivery meant actually moving her; at this point, that part was up in the air and a phone call was being awaited.

A few more minutes were spent shooting the shit about the weather and the best ways to get from here to there in the city before the Greek got a call and headed back inside with all of them in tow. There’s nothing like a group of hired guns waiting for their money; they would follow their cash cow anywhere. The Greek shooed his followers away and the two stoners perked up enough to watch to see what was going to happen. She was still passed out. They had held her up for the photos, then dropped her on the floor like so much nothing once done.

So far what Bucky knew was that foreign people were going either pick her up or have her transported, but no one was immediately available for information. It was possible that he could interrogate the Greek and get something solid to go on from him, but there were eight people for him to get through before he would be alone with the Greek and there was no way for him to know how long it might take to get the Greek alone or how much time he would have before anyone showed up for transport. Since it had already been mentioned that further info was coming all Bucky could do was wait. 

He was idly wondering how long it would be before she woke up when one of the men from outside went back out and reappeared with a bag and approached her body. Bucky bristled and moved slowly towards him, trying to look interested and non-threatening. He watched the man pull a vial and needle out of the bag and take a moment to read the label. This provided Bucky with the name of the drug and at least the comfort of knowing that all the man was probably doing was to make sure she didn't wake up and cause any problems. This was confirmed by the amount of the drug the man pulled into the syringe and then injected into her. The man was obviously well trained. Bucky was fairly sure that there wouldn’t even be a mark where they injection happened, the man had very good hands.

The Greek was pacing now, looking at his phone now and then. It made Bucky believe that there was an unexpected hold-up and that these people were not prepared to wait here long. That suggested to Bucky that they must know she was with SHIELD and expect someone to come looking for her. It also told Bucky that their information was imperfect because they didn't know about him. The Greek was getting more frustrated, even shaking his phone as if that would make it work. He almost dropped it when it did ring, seemingly convinced that it never would and Bucky had to smirk at that. Wasn’t that always the way?

The Greek moved closer to Bucky as he spoke, so Bucky had no problem hearing the conversation on this end and was even able to catch part of the conversation on the other end of the phone. Long story short there was a bounty on her, a hefty one. Aside from payment for procurement, the team was also guaranteed part of the bounty. The broker, as Bucky came to think of the caller speaking to the Greek, was strongly suggesting that the team be retired so the bounty could go farther. This kind of thinking didn’t bother Bucky as it was pretty much the entire mantra of HYDRA. Use whatever means necessary to get what you wanted. I wasn’t a bad idea, and Bucky still held to it in many of his dealings as it was better to be selfish and alive than caring and dead.

Now that Bucky had an idea of the stakes, he had to formulate a plan. Walk away, come up with some way to keep himself off SHIELD’s shit list for letting her get taken. He could fight someone and let them take him down; the playing dead defence was risky because the opponents were unknown and training tended to take over which meant that Bucky would be fighting his instincts as much as the person or persons and he might end up dead for the attempt. That was also part of the problem with take the force out and ‘rescue’ her. Nine people fighting for their slice of the cash prize were liable to be more reckless and uncaring about how they got their cut, so long as they got it. That fact would definitely thin his opponents but overall it wouldn't help him much with how hard someone might come at him.

Things took a turn when the stoners, who had somehow gleaned the gist of the Greek’s conversation, opened fire on the room. Maybe they had always intended to kill the others to get the money for themselves, or perhaps they had just seen an opportunity and jumped on it; either way, Bucky had to lunge and drop to cover her while trying to assess where all the people were moving to and from. The stoners clipped the Greek, but the guys from the cars, including medical man, formed around him and in seconds the stoners were gone. The remaining three on the inside team were picked off and then the group around the Greek broke up. As the medical dude tended the Greek’s gunshot wound, the other two went back outside. Minutes later the sounds of rapid gunfire alerted Bucky to a potential ambush situation.

Judging by the confusion on the faces of the men still alive, Bucky figured that the shooting wasn’t making sense to them. It really didn’t matter to Bucky what happened to those two, he was busy working her back into her catsuit. It wasn’t the best idea, but unless he wanted to strip another dead body, it was the only way to get her covered up to be moved. Once he had gotten her pliable body into the tight wrap of the suit, he waited a bit to see what was going to happen. The two still inside had worked their way to cover either side of the hole in the wall. The remaining lights that hadn’t been disrupted in the building by the intruders or the bombs now went out. Whoever was out there wasn’t fooling around.

Despite the darkness, Bucky had the advantage. This place had been his home for months and he knew it well. He snuck over to the raised area and pulled out some weapons. Bucky had excellent night vision but he grabbed a night scope for good measure, along with 2 kevlar vests and made his way back to her. He strapped a vest on her then surveyed the area behind the cars. His plan was to get her into the Corolla, it was the only one that had broken interior lights. Once he had her in the car, he could bide his time. Either he waited for the inside and outside forces to attack each other and he tried to break out unnoticed during the melee. Or he just made a break for it and hoped both sides assumed it was the other and left him alone. That idea was far less likely seeing that the moving target would head away from the area, and the strength of the force outside was unknown. If they had air support the car was certainly the worst way to go. Hell, even if all they had was a grenade launcher he’d be pooched. Leaving before the fighting started was far too hazardous to be a good idea.

He contemplated setting a car on fire when he noticed someone moving around the side of the Lexus. He was already pissed that that sweet lump of cash was shot up and literally doing him no good for the trouble he’d gone through to get it, so focusing that anger on the approaching target was easily done. The person sneaking around hadn’t noticed that Bucky was in the Corolla, or that they were being watched. Bucky saw the opportunity to create a distraction and went for it. As the person passed to the back of the Lexus, Bucky took a calculated risk and pressed the horn. The sneaker froze, but not before lights started to flow into the building from outside. Since the two people at the hole were facing towards the sound, the lights didn't affect them, but the lights exposed the sneaker and would have exposed Bucky had he not dropped to the seat at the first hint of lights.

More gunfire broke out and as Bucky followed the direction of it he took his chance to get the hell out. Instead of doing the obvious thing and barrelling towards a wall, hoping to punch through to freedom, he drove towards the pass through he’d hidden in the far side of the building, back behind the raised area and down through the pillars, then out through the secret wall/door he had put in for a quick getaway. Bucky looked over to where she lay in the footwell between the seat and the dash. He hadn’t strapped her in and stopping now before he could be sure they weren’t followed, wasn’t a wise idea. She would be fine as long as there were no sudden stops. As he drove Bucky decided that he didn't want the hassle of waiting for her to wake up, of having to worry about anyone hunting her down and him by extension, so as soon as he found a payphone he pulled over and made a call. 

He stayed on the line for 10 minutes, it was more than enough time for the SHIELD retrieval team to get on the road to the location. Considering the number of people, the bounty on her head and the wreckage she had already caused, Bucky wasn’t interested in sticking with her to find out if she was being tracked in some less than obvious way. What he wanted most at the moment was to go off, take a nap, then circle back to raid his stashes at the warehouse before the cops started to crawl all over it, or worse, the general riff-raff that attacked the place or that he fought for fun managed to uncover some of his nastier toys. 

Bucky dragged her out of the car and propped her up against one of the gated storefronts closest to the payphone. He covered her with his stolen jacket, glad to be rid of a dead person’s garb. He pulled her head back by her hair and took a long look at her, she was still under but the peaceful look that most people wore during rest eluded her. If anything she looked far less appealing than she ever had to him. He tapped her forehead before he went back to the car and drove off. He’d always have the sight and smell of her stripped in the warehouse to remember her by.


End file.
